Leaving behind the pregnant mog at London Heathrow was a horrible experience. We haven't been apart for more than a week or so for years and years...

I arrived in Canberra on the 27th after departing the UK at 22:05GMT on the 25th of June (The mogs birthday!) I travelled on the new A380 courtesy of Singapore airlines. They were long flights but plenty of red wine and Singapore sling cocktails plus my beloved Senheiser noise cancelling headphones ensured I slept peacefully on both flights for many hours. I did manage to see the following films though on the 22 hour journey.

My first experience of Canberra was from the sky on the short 27 minute flight in from Sydney. The countryside here is dry and very typical south Australian scenery. Beautiful I thought. Sharon, the lady who owns the house I'm staying at kindly picked me up from the airport and took me to my new abode, a room in her house. The house is nice and the suburbs good. The local shops including a good Woolworths supermarket are just down the road. I spent that day here mostly recovering from the flights and trying to stay awake as late as possible to try and get into the Oz time zone. It worked as I slept well and have woken up today feeling fine. Not much jet lag at all thanks to my tried and trusted long haul travel coping procedures.

I start work on Thursday contracting for the Australian goverments Civil Aviation Safety Authority. I'm looking forward to earning money again after nearly a year and a half without a job (too bad I hear you say!). So far I've setup my NAB bank account (which I did in the UK) and here in Canberra when I went into the city earlier on the bus. I'm paid through a payroll company so I've spent the last week in the UK and my time here completing all sorts of forms. Something my poor wife knows only too well after spending nearly a month completing all the requirements for the spouse visa. The mog will join me out here, if all goes to plan, at the end of August. I will be quite a lonely frog until this happens, although I'm sure all the work will keep me busy.

The transport system in Canberra seems pretty good. Getting a couple of buses to the centre earlier was very easy. The people here all seem very friendly too. Everyone I meet is helpful and enjoys a good conversation. The local area has lots of wildlife park areas which I'm looking forward to exploring.

Comments

Glad you're OK and settled in. Mog's OK - a bit lonely I expect. Enjoy Canberra and the new job!xx

Erica
on Jun 30, 2011 at 08:21PM

Glad to see that Mr Frog is checking the baguettes properly! :-)

Dom Diddled
on Jul 4, 2011 at 08:24AM

Glad ur ok Tom & thanks for the update - hope the job treats you well. I've just started work on Friday again, and funnily enough, twas good to be back. All good here, beautiful scenery as usual and plenty of activity walking and cycling; so on top form.Keep safe and keep smiling my friend, Dom:-)xx